Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) Jesus Will Wipe Away Your Tears

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

 August 17, 2016

 Jesus Will Wipe Away Your Tears

Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken. 

If you have struggled with addiction, then we know that you have also known the pangs of a broken heart. As one who has had a round with many forms addiction in this life, I can speak honestly from my heart to tell you that I know what it is like to have a broken heart and a wounded soul. None of us ever woke up one morning and said, “Gee, I think I will become a drug addict today, and get completely strung out on crack cocaine or heroin!” Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? But even though we never wanted things to turn out that way – for one reason or another, they did. And then we ended up in the pile of broken vessels. We became shattered and useless to the world around us.

For many of us, we know how it feels to be kicked to the curb by our closest family members and dearest friends. We know what it feels like to be rejected by every acquaintance around us when our world completely falls apart. There are those of us who know what it is like to end up homeless as a result of our addiction. And many, though they may have a place to live physically, feel like strangers in their own homes.

What causes these broken hearts? What makes us cry so much and hurt so bad? What can a person do who has gone so far down it looks like a long way up to even see the ground’s level? The answer will be different for every one of us. While we know that the root cause of addiction is grounded in fear, we cannot place one finger on the reasons that each person struggles and hurts as it plays out in their lives in the forms of addictions. We can be sure of this. Every time we see a broken heart, we know that deep down in their soul man, there are unhealed wounds that are crying out for help.

The thing is with the addictions that we pick up, regardless of which ones we choose – and there are many – Band-Aids will never help us. For me it was food – sugar to be precise. I gave up the alcohol, the drugs, cigarettes, and a host of other evil things I will not mention here, but the food/sugar was something that had a hold on me so tight it was like a noose around my neck. It rendered me helpless to control it. No matter how strong I thought I was on the inside I could not get free of its grip.

To begin with, I didn’t even know how much I had been crying on the inside. I spent many years with a “boat load” of pain that had never been dealt with. There were years when I needed to cry and release it all to Jesus, but back then I didn’t try to find out how. I thought that since I was thrown out of the house at 15 years old and had to learn to survive on my own, I would also have to learn to deal with anything that was bothering me in my heart (or my soul). What I discovered was that if I just pretended the pain was not there and did not allow myself to think about it, then it would be gone.

How wrong I was! When we deny the pain, it festers, like a nasty splinter in our fingers or hands. If we allow the splinter to remain there, the pain just gets worse and worse until it finally becomes unbearable. That’s what happened to me. One day after years and years of having a heart full of splinters, I exploded. The pain became too much. I couldn’t eat enough sugar to keep me running on high, and my world was crashing down around me.

I finally started realizing that there was something terribly wrong with me and that I needed help. I didn’t know how to seek it from Jesus yet. I only knew Him in a religious way. He was not yet personal to me. I looked for diets and counselors to help bring relief to my ever increasing body size and the growing sadness in my heart, all to no avail. I began to cry easier and easier as the emotions I had been hiding underneath began to surface, whether I liked it or not.

I would stand and look out of the upstairs window of my beautiful bedroom in my big beautiful home. I would gaze out for a brief moment at the gorgeous sunset as I looked down upon the lovely neighborhood I lived in and wonder if there wasn’t some man out there who was custom made for me. What I thought I needed was a new husband. What I didn’t know was that I already had a Bridegroom who was waiting to dry my tears and comfort and heal my aching soul. So I jumped off the edge of life and once again tried to find an even bigger band aid for my pain, only to fall into the darkest pit I had ever been in.

It took me several long, dark and painful years to claw my way to Jesus and ask Him to fix me. I realized that Hanny was a complete mess and I realized that I could ask Him for help. Then, and only then did the help come. The Master is so tender. He is so forgiving and gentle with us. He longs to take us into His loving arms and wipe away the pain that took us in the wrong direction of life’s path. He wants to clean us up and dry the tears and fill us up to overflowing with His love.

Today I just want to ask you a question. Have you received His love? He has proven it to you by what He has done for you, on the cross, by going to hell for you, and by living again at the right hand (in right standing) with God where He sits now at the throne in heaven, constantly praying for you. Do you know this? Really? Will you stop and let yourself receive His love today? Will you let Him dry your tears as you curl up into His lap? He doesn’t have to be physically seen to be experienced my friends. When you draw close to Him in the privacy of your own space, wherever that might be, He will be there and He will respond to your cries. Find comfort in Him and He will dry your tears.

Friends, if you will get into the word of God (the Bible) and start standing on His promises and speaking them out loud over your life every day in faith – you will get victory. Nobody who has ever put their trust in Him has ever failed to get the results they were hoping for. Working God’s word works when we work it by faith.